Taking the Rake
by LNC2
Summary: Alya is determined to put the D in MD-C.


"Alya, _please_. Don't make me do this."

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, get your cute butt out of that dressing room and show me your new underwear."

Marinette huffed and threw back the changing room curtain to glare at her friend. Alya gave a low whistle of approval at the wine deep lingerie.

"That set. Definitely that set."

"This is ridiculous. I don't _need_ new underwear." _Unfortunately_ , she pouted as she looked herself over in the mirror. The dark red created a nice contrast against her pale skin and reminded her a little of her Ladybug suit. But fashion internships and student loans didn't allow for frivolous purchases no matter how fantastic they made her breasts look.

"I have pages worth of text messages from you about the importance of a woman's underwear that contradict that statement."

"It's not a contradiction if it's between getting kicked out of my apartment or making sure my bathroom mirror gets a nice show every time I change."

"You'd be so lucky to get kicked out of that hell hole."

Marinette scowled at her friend and snapped the curtain shut to change back.

"And _maybe_ if you got some new underwear your bathroom mirror wouldn't be the only one getting a show."

She groaned. "Not this again."

"I'm just saying Marinette. It's been like, what? Five months since Adrien turned you down, which, by the way, _insane_ , but whatever." Marinette rejoined Alya and they left the store, sans lingerie.

"How many dates have you been on since then? How many times have you _s'envoyer en l'air?_ You're a healthy twenty-two year old woman. I worry about these things."

"My sex life is _fine_ , Alya."

"Ugh that's just what I'm talking about. _Fine_ ," She spat. "You should aspire to more than _fine_."

Marinette laughed.

"I'm serious, M. I'm going to find you a man. You've been seeing your vibrator for too long."

An older woman glared in their direction as Alya's exuberance carried her declaration just a little too loudly across the arrondissement. Marinette blushed and gave her an apologetic wave.

"I don't need you to find me _anyone_ , Alya. I'm not still pining away for Adrien."

"I know," She said, in a way that said she totally did not. Marinette pulled on her arm so they stopped walking. The couple behind them glared at the sudden stop and veered around them.

"I'm serious, Al. He said no. I can't spend my whole life waiting on someone who doesn't want me."

"-which is _insane_ -"

"I'm good. He's good. _We're_ good."

"More than good from the looks of it," Alya muttered. "Which you still haven't explained, by the way."

Marinette pinched her elbow. "Stop it."

"I'm just saying. It's _weird._ One day he's all, _I'm in love with someone else_ and you're avoiding each other like a cat in the road and then the next you guys are practically attached at the hip."

Marinette rolled her eyes. There was no way she could explain just _why_ her relationship with Adrien had changed so drastically. Not without dropping a bombshell on Alya about her going-on seven years vigilante streak.

"We're friends."

"So you say."

"We _are_."

Alya clucked her tongue and they resumed walking. But Marinette couldn't let that go.

"You and _Nino_ are friends."

" _Yeah_ ," She snorted, "but Nino and I have slept together. And broken up. And slept together again."

"Please stop."

"All I'm saying is Nino and I acknowledge our roller coaster relationship. I'm not saying that you can't just be friends with a guy. I'm saying you can't just be friends with _Adrien_."

"Why?" Marinette sighed. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"You guys are… intense. It's intimidating. Not to me because I'm very secure in our relationship," She winked. "But to prospective suitors? That's hard."

"We're close. So what?"

The Dupain-Cheng bakery came into view and Marinette had never been so relieved to see home. There was no way Alya would pursue this conversation in front of her mother.

Yet Alya continued on.

"Look, it's like if Chloe and I were still in our weird post-relationship pre-makeup pre-second break up phase. Chloe would be intimidating to anyone. How can people see what a catch I am when they see that there's someone around who by all accounts has probably already caught me."

Marinette grinned. "As we rehash your dating history I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should be the one giving _you_ advice."

"At least I'm getting some."

"I get some," She scowled.

"Your hand doesn't count."

Alya held open the door to the bakery. Marinette dropped her voice as she waved at her mother, busy with a customer.

"Can we _please_ talk about anything other than whether or not I am sleeping with someone. We are successful, young women in our early twenties. Surely there is something better to talk about."

The redhead grinned. "Did you hear about what's going on in America right now?"

"God, you had to pick the one topic that's more depressing than my love life."

* * *

x

* * *

"I just stopped a mugging in your alleyway."

Marinette held back her startled scream, nearly upturning her laundry basket as she turned to see Chat Noir climbing through her open window and scowling. Two months later and she still wasn't used to his surprise visits.

"I have a front door you know."

Chat's expression grew even darker. "I know."

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"You and Alya can grumble about this place all you want but I'm not moving."

" _Marinette_ ," He growled as he stalked forward through her admittedly small living room. His cat-eyed glare had frozen many an akuma over the years, but she wasn't Ladybug for nothing.

" _Adrien_."

They stood there frowning at each other before he finally gave up and sighed. Dropping his transformation as he dropped onto her couch he muttered a disgruntled _impossible_ which she magnanimously ignored.

"Hello Plagg," She cooed as the black kwami circled her expectantly. "There's a surprise for you in the fridge."

A strangled squeal was her reward as the little god flew off towards the kitchen.

There was a muffled moan that sounded suspiciously like _camembert_ and Marinette smiled. A special commission from the Ladyblog for a set of akuma plushies made that little splurge at the market possible.

Adrien sighed. "You really didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to."

"He's spoiled enough as it is."

She grinned. "You're just mad 'cause he likes me better."

"Him and the rest of Paris."

"Poor Kitty," Marinette and leaned over the pile of clothes on her coffee table to ruffle his hair. "Never getting the recognition he deserves."

He swatted her away, smiling.

"Just as long as my Lady knows it."

"Always," She hummed, returning her attention to the matter at hand.

That matter, of course, being Alya's ridiculous quest to put the 'D' in MD-C. She should have known the relentless journalist would pull a stunt like this.

Marinette frowned down at her phone and Alya's not so cryptic text message:

 **Tonight. 8 pm. The Red Lion theater. Wear something to make a man blush. He'll be holding a yellow carnation.**

Marinette rolled her eyes and continued to sort through her laundry. She lingered over a pink chiffon dress but memories of what happened the last time she wore the piece made her think better of it. If she was going to actually go through with this, better to start with some fresh mojo. She didn't need to be reminded of past romantic failures especially not when they loomed so large in her living room. She tossed the dress into her ever-growing discard pile on the cushion beside Adrien.

"Something the matter, Bug?"

She looked up to see him fingering the pink dress with a small frown. She shook her head.

"Just Alya. She's on a ridiculous new mission and I'm the main focus."

Setting aside the dress, Adrien leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Oh?"

She tossed him her phone and continued her search through the pile. She laid aside a black halter dress that held possibility, although it's low back meant she would have to do without a bra. Which, when she thought about it, probably made it her best bet. For all her grumbling about finances, Marinette should have sprung for the new underwear set.

" _Oh_."

"Yeah."

"What-" Adrien's voice was hoarse. Setting the phone down on the table he cleared his throat. "What brought this on?"

Marinette hesitated. They hadn't really addressed her ill-fated crush since they crashed into each other in an alleyway just over two months ago. What initially felt like a blessing soon grew to be the unacknowledged elephant in the room. There was a lot to be said for clearing the air and five months may not have entirely erased her feelings, but it did a lot to ease her heartbreak and embarrassment.

It would be nice not to tiptoe around the issue like it never happened.

Coming to a decision, Marinette turned to face her partner who was looking a little ashen.

"Honestly?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly not so sure. "Um, yeah."

"You."

" _Me?_ "

She probably shouldn't have taken as much satisfaction as she did from his voice cracking as he stared up at her with blushing disbelief. Marinette bit back a nervous smile and shrugged. It was one thing to think about having this conversation and entirely another to actually have it.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I know we haven't talked about it and really that was probably for the best but now it's _weird_ that we haven't talked about it so, uh, I guess this is me… talking about it?"

"Ah… it?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and returned her attention to sorting through the laundry basket. This would be easier if she didn't have to look at him. She was grateful Tikki and Plagg were in the kitchen as she didn't really want to have an audience for this.

"Alya just thinks it's time I put myself out there again."

"Oh."

She bit back a frown as she pretended to be preoccupied with folding a fitted sheet. Would it kill him to say more than _oh_? Risking a glance in his direction she saw him frowning down at his hands, fussing with his miraculous and her heart melted. She reached forward to settle their fidgeting.

Adrien clutched her hands and brought them to his lips, eyes shut tight against what she was suspecting were tears.

"Adrien?" She asked, mildly horrified. When he didn't look up at her she squeezed his fingers. "Hey, none of that."

He didn't say anything and she moved around the table to sit next to him.

"It's been nearly six months, kitten. I'm a tougher bug than that."

"Marinette-" He croaked.

"Seriously Adrien. I'm good. _We're_ good," Marinette said, repeating her words to Alya from that morning.

He shook his head. "But Marinette-"

" _Adrien,_ " She cut him off. "I don't want to hear anymore about it. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

And he didn't.

She told him she liked him. He told her he wasn't interested.

Marinette wasn't the kind of person who would hold that against him.

She was motherfucking Ladybug.

So she cried and ate unhealthy amounts of chocolate and wrote sad poems in her diary.

Then she put on her big girl spots and started the slow ( _god it was slow_ ) process of moving on.

Unrequited love hurt like a bitch, but Adrien didn't owe her anything and there was nothing more important to her than preserving their friendship.

Especially after she discovered their shared _extracurricular_ activities.

And as close as they were, as close as they had grown, Marinette was not blind to her alley cat's horrendous guilt complex. Despite all of her reassurances, unspoken or otherwise, it didn't take a superhero to see that he carried her heartbreak like a millstone around his neck. It was one of the reasons she'd avoided this conversation before. It was one of the reasons this conversation really should have happened sooner.

She never wanted him to feel like her feelings were a burden.

"Adrien, please look at me." He did so, miserably. "Have I said or done anything to make you feel like I resent you in any way for what happened?"

He shook his head.

"Okay," She said, nodding. "Okay, then. This is the last time we're going to mention it."

He looked ready to argue but she cut him off with a _look_.

"You're my best friend and I love you and I care about you. I'm okay. More importantly, _we're_ okay." Marinette nudged him with her elbow to try and coax a smile. "Okay?"

Adrien threw himself back against the sofa and sighed. He met her expectant look with a scowl. "Okay."

"Great!" Marinette jumped up then, happy that she'd said what she needed to say and even happier to leave the conversation behind them. Resuming her place by her neglected laundry, she took a gamble on flippancy and grinned. "Besides, it was an honor to get my heart broken by _the_ Chat Noir."

Honestly, he could scream.

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Chat ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**


End file.
